Waiting
by Makiie
Summary: [[BXE, somewhat AU]] When Bella is changed while waiting for Edward to return from an extended hunting trip, will she continue to wait for him? And when forced to choose between Edward and her new family, what will happen? [CHAPTER 8 [Fairy Tales] NOW UP]
1. Prologue: Waiting

**UPDATED**

**A/N: **I know I had said I wouldn't do anything besides oneshots when I was working on Moonset (whose second chapter will be up this afternoon I promise!), but then again, I never follow my own rules do I? Well, now that my computer actually works, I can probably do more than before. Basically, we all know I _hate _using others dialogue. So my solution to this is to write something original. Amazing, huh? It also helps that whenever I want to pull my hair out because of Moonset, I have this to fall back on. I have this all outlined for at least 4 or 5 chapters, but after that I'm kinda just gonna go with the flow.

**Disclaimer:** I may not own Bella, Edward, or the world of Twilight, but I **do **own the cast of vampires coming up in the next few chapters.

Three decades is a very long time. Not for a vampire of course, we who have eternity on our side. It just seems very long when you had thought it would only be three weeks instead of thirty years until you saw someone. Especially when that someone happened to be the only reason you had for living. But, I think even then, that I knew there was going to be more waiting than three weeks. I just didn't want to admit it. Oh, I knew he would come back for me, but how long could I last while waiting for him? Not very long, it had seemed.

I can still replay that _human_ memory with surprising accuracy.

It had begun as any night in my human home had. At least as far as I was concerned. This meant that my angel had made his descent from the heavens through my window. However, unlike every other night I could remember, there was no smile on his face. There was only pain. Pain and sadness. I could feel my heart stopping, my lungs beginning to shut down, I could feel my body readying itself for the wave of pain and agony that would accompany him leaving. I knew he was leaving. Maybe this time, it would not be as painful as the last, but I couldn't live without him. He'd told me it was the same for him. Hadn't he?

I can still remember the way he grimaced when those terrible first words found their way from his lips.

"I have to go hunting," he had said quietly. I remember the wave of pure relief that washed over me. I could feel my body slowly unclenching and relaxing. He wasn't leaving like _before_; it wasn't so far into my past that I couldn't remember how much it had hurt without him. It would be a few days, and he would be back. And then I saw his face. It was clear that there was more to this.

"This isn't…normal hunting, is it?" I could feel my heart stopping yet again.

"No. This is…tracking. Victoria's…she's…Bella, she's _here,_" he had said with so much agony, "We have to get her away from here. We're going to have to leave for a little while. I promise it won' be long. I swear it," he said with so much conviction that I almost believed him.

'_Almost' _being the key word. I decided that then would be an excellent time to remind him of another option he had, one I had constantly tried to get him to take.

"Change me," I had said hopefully, "Then we can just leave together."

"It…it doesn't work that way. During the change, you're so… vulnerable. We can't protect you while traveling and we can't stay here if she's _here_. Please, _please _Bella, believe me when I say that we won't be longer than a week or so. Just long enough to get her away from here. I don't understand why she's suddenly back, but she is."

I could already feel the hole I had tried so hard to forget ripping open. My whole body was trembling with the effort I was making to keep it shut. I couldn't fight the tears though. They flowed freely down my face, and I made no effort to wipe them away.

His eyes seemed tortured as he looked at my shaking form. It had only been a few months that he'd been back, it was only a few weeks until graduation. He had promised to stay. He'd _promised._

And then suddenly, I was in his arms and his lips were on mine. And for a moment I was able to forget he was leaving. I knew he loved me. He loved me, he loved me. That was all that could go through my head at that moment. If I knew that, maybe I could survive without him for a little while. How wrong I had been.

"Promise me something," he had said as we separated.

"Anything," I had replied, still a little breathless, even though I was scared to hold myself to another one of his promises.

"Wait for me. Please, just wait for me. Even if it takes longer than expected. I promise you we'll be back, so just promise you'll be here for me to come back to," he had said with so much love in his eyes.

And I had said yes. He had kissed me once more, and then he was gone with a flash of bronze hair and pale skin. He was _gone._

And that was how I had spent the last year of my human life.

_Waiting…_

**A/N: **Next chapter up soon…


	2. Gone

**UPDATED**

**A/N: **I have a lot of creativity in me right now. Probably best to use it before it's gone…this chapter will be in Edward's POV and will continued to be so for the rest of the story unless I feel it's necessary to switch to someone else.

**Disclaimer:** I may not own Twilight or New Moon and consequently the characters in these books, but I do own my own little coven of vampires, who _will_ appear in the next chapter. However, if Stephenie Meyer's willing, I have $22.67 and some pocket lint in exchange for the rights.

Thirty years.

Had it really been that long? I could still smell her scent here. Or was that my imagination? It seemed that I tended to fall into that little pit of hope quite often over the past few decades. Or maybe it was that, this being _our_ meadow, her scent would always be here. It was comforting to think that. Especially when the alternative was insanity. Though, at this point, I think I might have welcomed it.

Why? Why hadn't she waited? She had promised. But when I had returned those few, yet agonizingly long, months later, she was gone. No one seemed to know what I was talking about when I asked after her. No one seemed to remember there ever being a 'Bella Swan daughter of Charlie Swan, the police chief.' No matter who I asked, no one seemed to remember her _or_ Charlie. Even when I interrogated their thoughts, they knew nothing of her. Even that vile, disgusting slimeball of a person, Mike Newton. He'd looked at me as if I were saying that guinea pigs could fly if only crossed with a seagull. It was impossible, how could they not remember her? If not for the beautiful, wonderful person she was, why not the huge commotions she'd caused? She'd disappeared twice within the same year, she'd come back from one broken and mangled. And still they couldn't remember her.

Alice knew she wasn't dead, but that wasn't much reassurance. Especially when whenever Alice searched for her future places would come up, but the visions were devoid of any people. The visions would go blank as soon as they came, no matter how much Alice tried to call them back. It had gotten to the point where Alice would spend entire days just searching for those places, anything that told us she was alive.

The rest of my family could only watch in horror as I refused to do anything, but look for her. They helped me for a while, but eventually they said what I was thinking with their action of giving up. '_She's gone.'_

They may not have grieved as I did, but they mourned in their own ways.

Rosalie no longer spoke of her and tried to act as if it didn't affect her, but I caught her looking at the room we had been readying for Bella. She had chosen the clothes in the wardrobe herself, saying that she wouldn't have a sister who looked like she belonged on the streets.

Emmett had stayed the longest with me, trying to think of it as another one of our competitions, always saying he would find her first. But I knew he was suffering, in the few moments when I was privy to his thoughts, they were of Bella, and how much he had cared for her. I knew Emmett had loved her like a little sister, always watching out for her, teasing her, but always making sure she was happy, trying to make her laugh and smile, taking joy in her blushes. It took all I could not to let myself see how much it hurt him to think she would be gone.

Jasper had tried in his own way to help; he'd continued the search for someone who knew something about her. It was too much for him to be around me. Even though Jasper hadn't let himself get close to her, he'd always thought of her as a sister, even if he couldn't joke with her like Emmett, I'd found the two of them reading in the living room together many a time, with him on one end and her on the other, just enjoying each other's quiet.

Esme had refused to believe Bella was gone. She'd continued to work on Bella's room until it was finished, and after that she began the search for a car for her, after that, more clothes, more books. Always just trying to find something to distract herself from the loss of another child. I tried not to notice when she would just sit in the room and cry her tearless tears.

Carlisle. He searched for Bella everywhere. Every single connection he had, he used. He'd never given up, every spare moment he still spent searching for her, for me, even if I had given up, he wouldn't. I knew that Bella had been special to him. She had been his daughter in every sense of the word, and now like any other father would, he searched for her.

I hadn't seen them all for at least eight years I had finally given up searching for Bella only four years ago. But I had kept one tradition, the visiting of this meadow. Once a year, I made myself come here, from wherever I was hiding from my misery, and think of her and try to figure out all my whys. I would leave in a day or so, more miserable than ever, it was my punishment to myself. My punishment for not just changing her and taking the dangers that would've come. I hadn't lied when I told her it was too dangerous to change her then, but I hadn't told the whole truth either. And now I had to live with her being gone.

But for right now, I was content to think of the good moments I had stored up in this place, to just enjoy my memories of her. I swear I could smell her there, that alluring scent of freesia. Long ago, it was this scent that had made me almost kill her. And then I had found out about the person behind the scent. And what an incredible person she was. It was strange, even though I had gotten to the point where I was barely tempted to partake in her blood, it had always smelled so…appetizing. Here and now, it smelled only like the greatest of perfumes. This only fed my suspicions that I was imagining it. No matter what I did, there was always going to be a part of me that thirsted for her blood.

But, even if I was imagining it, it was better than my reality. I had considered going to the Volturi a second time, but the fact that I knew she was alive, made me fearful that they would come after her if their memories were jogged. Even if my family couldn't find her, I doubted the Volturi couldn't. And so I searched for her, trying desperately not to succumb to the temptation of just ending myself.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I almost missed the familiar scent that suddenly began to sneak into my senses. It was familiar, but so radically different from what I was used to. And yet it was the same scent I had been searching for for so long. But I refused to believe myself. I had done this to myself before. I prided myself on my very good memory, this was just one of them leaking to the surface of my currently very unorganized mind. I refused to let myself hope so much.

And then the scent was gone, and I knew that I had been imagining it.

I closed my eyes and brought forth one of my better memories. It had been one of those rare sunny days in Forks, and Bella had surprised me (but of course not Alice) by turning up that morning in her truck. I could remember the way she had smiled when I had come out and how she'd laughed when I'd picked her up and carried her into the house. I could still feel her warm breath on my neck as she let her cheek rest on my shoulder. Alice had bought sandwiches and lemonade for Bella and was adding the final touch of a checkered blanket into the picnic basket. Bella had laughed and I soon joined in. We had spent the day here, where no one could see my sparkling skin. Bella had been so beautiful then, her chocolate brown eyes sparkling with curiosity as she began one of her rounds of endless questions. She had blushed when I'd told her my favorite color had become brown…

And then I heard the footsteps. They were quiet, hesitant. I turned, and Bella stared back at me, however, judging by her unnaturally pale skin, I doubted I would ever see her blush again.

She looked…sickly. She still hadn't gotten over the weight she'd lost when I'd left, but she looked as if she had lost even more while I was away. The changing had smoothed it over, but when she had been changed she must have been very skinny, emaciated even. It showed in the way that all of her features seemed even sharper than was normal when we were changed. Her heart shaped face still retained its round look, but it seemed longer and thinner than I remembered. What had happened to her?

However sickly she may have looked, I couldn't overlook the fact that the changing had definitely…enhanced her beauty. She seemed to be a Greek goddess lost from the heaven where she belonged.

Her once chocolate brown eyes had turned a pure gold, but instead of the sparkle of happiness and life I was used to, there was fear, and some other emotion I couldn't name.

And then she was running, but this was not the slow clumsy human Bella running. This was the strong, graceful vampire Bella running, and she was fast. Very fast. However, I was faster. I couldn't lose her again. I wouldn't. Not after I had searched for so long.

I grabbed her arm, turning her to look at me. And then she was gone.

**A/N: **Cliffhanger! I may or may not write the third chapter today… depends on how long it takes to get Moonset updated…

By the way, I fixed some stuff I noticed in the prologue very minor but…an editor would be nice


	3. A New Death

**UPDATED**

**A/N: **I have lied once again. I swear Moonset will be updated after this. I just want to introduce my little coven of vampires…

I'm really enjoying myself with this story…

And yes, Edward's reason for leaving was a little underexplained, but further in I'll elaborate a bit more.

By the way, is it just me, or are email alerts not working?

**Disclaimer:** I do own my own little coven of vampires, but Bella and Edward belong with Stephenie Meyer.

She was just _gone._

But she had been there. I knew it. This wasn't one of my fantasies. Even if it had been for a second I had felt her now cool skin on mine. I had felt the sudden rush of heat in my body just from that small touch. And for the first time in a long time, I felt whole. Right. _Complete._

And then she was a few hundred feet from me, but something was wrong. Terribly wrong. She seemed…dizzy almost. And then she was falling…

I ran towards her, arms spread, ready to catch her, just like always. But it was not just like always, because this time, she caught herself on her own. She was running again, but she seemed off balance. I was so close…so close…

And then something small, but hard as granite, slammed into me, knocking me away from her. I growled. I wouldn't lose her again. Not again. I wouldn't lose her now that I'd found her. I couldn't. I couldn't…

She was on the ground now, on her back. She seemed disoriented, her eyes were opened wide and unseeing, the golden orbs filmed over. Her breathing was erratic. I couldn't watch her like this, but I was spellbound, watching her, unwilling to lose her once again.

"Bella! Come on Bella, focus! You're okay. It's okay. It's okay. Just focus. You're here. You're here," a voice frantically told her. She shook her recklessly as if trying to wake her. It was a young girl's voice, no older than eleven. From the back I could see that her hair was chin length with the straight, blackness that suggested an Asian origin. However, the pale skin would have contradicted my assumption if she was human.

Because you see, this girl was a vampire. A very young one, but a vampire nonetheless and as she turned towards me, I could see that at that moment, I was not her favorite person.

"What did you do to her?!" The girl's jet black eyes stared at me with complete and total hatred, "If you've hurt her, you'll be sorry!" Her face was round and moon shaped; the face of a child, never allowed to mature. She seemed tiny and scrawny almost, but of course, she was unusually beautiful, like we all are. And like Bella, there was something…_off_ about her. However, it was very clear that she meant what she said. And at that moment I was very aware that I had no idea what she was capable of. Now would be a good time to see what she was thinking of doing to me…

"Kira, it's alright. I'm fine," Bella whispered. Her voice was just as I remembered it, warm and caring, but in this moment it seemed flat somehow, lacking any emotion. She still seemed confused, but she seemed aware of her surroundings at least. But what had happened? How had she disappeared like that?

So many questions ran through my head, but all I could think was '_I found her. She's not dead, she's alive. And I'm here and she's here. I found her.' _

She sat up unsteadily, but when I made a move to try and help her, the girl, Kira, growled at me, warning me that she still did not trust me.

"Go get the others. I'll be fine now."

'_Others?' _I wondered.

The girl was unconvinced however, "But what happened Bella? Are you sure you're alright? All of a sudden you said you wanted to check something and then Am…"

Her lips continued to move and Bella's lips moved as well for a brief moment, but I couldn't hear them. It was as if a wall had been placed between us. But just because my hearing had been rendered useless, it didn't mean I couldn't use my other _talent_ to help me.

I hadn't expected to hear Bella's thoughts, but when I tried to focus in on the girl's I was met with a void. I couldn't understand it. Who was doing this? Or was this girl, like Bella, immune to my ability?

I watched in confusion as the girl continued to emphatically shake her head. She seemed set upon staying with Bella, until Bella said something. The girl looked at me, then Bella, finally she reluctantly nodded her head. She stood to leave and told Bella something that seemed to have something to do with me and dying, judging by her gesture towards me and the bringing of her index finger across the pale skin of her neck. I wondered if it was for my benefit.

And then she was gone, running to get these 'others' Bella had spoken of. And then it was only Bella and I, alone.

"Don't try to read their thoughts, Edward. It won't work," she cautioned. Her golden eyes seemed to stare past me, whether because she was still disoriented or because she didn't want to look at me, I didn't know.

"Bella."

That one word had haunted me for three decades. It had brought me pain, happiness, laughter, agony, salvation. And in that moment, it was all I could say, her name. Her wonderful, wonderful name.

"Not now," she whispered as she let her face fall to study her shoes. But I didn't miss the look of pure agony on her face, but now I could read the other emotion. It was surprise. Had she thought I wouldn't look for her? That I wouldn't find her eventually? I had promised her I'd find her. Hadn't I? Could she really doubt me?

And so we sat there in silence. And even in a moment such as this, I couldn't help, but be reminded of some of the first days of knowing one another. Just like back then, she hid her face behind that curtain of hair. And just like back then, I wanted more than anything for her to come out from behind it.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on? What's _been_ going on?" I asked with a failed attempt at lightheartedness.

She lifted her head and despite whatever her feelings had been before, she smiled a small, sad smile and said quite clearly, "Later."

That was all I needed. Her smile. Her smile told me everything would be, if not right now, alright eventually.

Because all too soon, quick footsteps were heard and, led by the girl, entered three new female vampires, all of whom seemed surprised by something. But before I could even guess what, they were all rushing towards her, surrounding her in a protective circle, the girl, Kira, standing in front of her protectively, while the others finished the circle around her.

The eldest appearing of them bent down and wrapped her arms around Bella, hugging her tightly. I was painfully reminded of how, long ago, that would have been me.

The woman seemed to be in her late twenties or early thirties. She reminded me of Esme in the way that she looked at Bella with such kindness in only a way that a mother could, but this woman seemed sharper around the edges. Golden brown eyes turned from Bella to look at me from a long, thin face with a sharply pointed chin. Shoulder length wavy, honey colored hair framed her face nicely, but the sharpness and distrust in her eyes told me to be wary of her.

Again I was aware that some unheard conversation was going on, lips moved and emotions flashed across faces, but it seemed as if someone had tuned mute on yet again. No matter how much I strained my ears, I could hear nothing. So while I waited for their conversation to end, I contented myself with seeing what sort of company my Bella had kept these past years.

The second eldest of the coven, for I now realized that this was Bella's coven, seemed to be about twenty. She had a mysterious sort of beauty, with long dark brown hair and wise eyes. She was tall and slender, but the slightly bulging muscles of her arms again alerted me to my need for caution around these people. From her distant body language she seemed to be detached from the others, but her eyes were filled with only worry for Bella.

The last member looked no older than fourteen. She too had taken a seat near Bella and the movements of her lips and her posture suggested frantic worry over her. She had straight, pixie cut bleach blond hair that whipped around her face as she vigorously shook her head over something as she hugged Bella tightly. Bella patted her back and whispered something to her and the girl relaxed slightly, but she continued her strangle hold on Bella.

All of them wore modest clothing, jeans and t-shirts with sneakers, but from decades of living with Alice and Rosalie, I could see that they were high quality and high priced.

I was so wrapped up in my observations that I didn't notice the conversation had ended.

And then the eldest member was turning towards me, her eyes full of suspicion.

"My name is Annaliese, now explain to me what you are doing here, Edward Cullen, before my patience runs out."

**A/N:** It's all a bit confusing right now, but everything will be explained. I know this chapter kind of sucks because I rushed through it a bit, but I'm happy to finally introduce my little coven. More of their names and stories will be revealed soon.

Now I'm off to work on Moonset. And no more new chapters of this until I get 7 reviews.


	4. Author's Note

**Author's Note of Doom**

Okay, first of all I'd like to thank my many reviewers. I'm actually shocked at how many of you reviewed. To tell the truth, I thought my poor story was going to be there for my benefit only.

I would really just like to thank everyone so much for your reviews. Seeing as email alerts aren't working, I'd like to just thank you all here from the bottom of my heart.

Because I started writing this thinking it would only be a story for me to fall back on when I was tired of working on 'Moonset' (which I swear I'll update today at some point, my computer may be fixed, but it's still not perfect) I have to admit that I didn't exactly do my best on these first couple of chapters.

Right now, I'm on Thanksgiving Break from school, and because of this I have a lot of time on my hands.

This means that throughout the rest of the day, I am going to, in essence, completely rewrite 'Waiting.' Think of the first chapters as rough drafts. Basically I'm going to get these more up to par.

Along these lines, I'm also looking for a beta or editor for this story. This means that updates will come slower, but there's a better chance that chapters won't be crap.

And I did promise that I would add a new chapter if I got 7 reviews. Well, I got 10, so that means after I rewrite everything slight shudder I'll be writing the next chapter.

I highly suggest you reread the new chapters; I'm going to be changing a few things.

Other than that, Happy Thanksgiving, and have a safe holiday.

-Makiie


	5. Coughing Blood

**A/N: **All of the chapters have now been rewritten. It took me a long time to fix everything so please tell me what you think!

Sorry for the slow update, I'm having trouble getting documents up…as well as the fact that my entire family showed up for Thanksgiving and left me without a moment's peace.

**Disclaimer: **Annaliese and the rest of the coven are mine. Bella and Edward just wish they were too.

I looked to Bella. The blond girl was still clutching her arm, but Bella seemed unaware of her, only looking at me, waiting for my answer.

And so I said the truth.

"I was looking for Bella," the whole time I stared at her, waiting to see her reaction.

She looked surprised, and then pulled her face into a mask of indifference as she turned her head to look questioningly at Annaliese.

Annaliese nodded only once, seemingly satisfied with my answer.

"Perhaps we should move our conversation to our home," she said politely, then added to both her family and I, "Unless there are any objections to the idea of course."

From what I could tell, Kira had quite a few objections to my coming to their home, all of which, she seemed ready to voice, until Bella looked at her, her eyes making it clear that she was to keep these opinions to herself, at least for now.

The rest of the coven seemed uneasy, but more looks from Bella seemed to silence anything they would have said, along with an answering nod from the brunette when Bella turned to her.

As for me, I had no objections whatsoever. I only hoped that going to their home would constitute "later," thus allowing me to be privy to an explanation of what had happened that had made it necessary for my Bella to become a vampire and disappear for almost three decades.

"I have none."

"Very well. Bella dear? Please lead the way."

For the first time that night, Bella truly smiled as she turned to me. Again that flicker of surprise played across the faces of her family, were they surprised that she had _smiled? _But beforeI could verify my suspicions, Bella was running. It took all I had to even keep up with her; the rest of her coven either respected our right to at least some sort of privacy, or had long abandoned the thought of trying to keep up with her. Judging upon their reaction to me, I guessed the latter.

Remembering a similar situation between us so long ago I asked plaintively, "Is it later yet?"

The smile on her face vanished suddenly, and for a moment I considered telling her to forget it, but she responded softly, "One question."

The millions of questions that had been running through my head all bubbled up, all wanting to be asked, and for a moment I was overwhelmed with the decision of picking only one. But in my mind there was only one that I could ask.

"Do you still love me?"

Her eyes softened as she whispered, "Of course. You've wasted your question."

"It was well wasted then."

She smiled ever so slightly at this. I wondered if she would have blushed if she could.

Before I could get another word in, the blond girl managed to catch up. It was very obvious that she had no chance of keeping up for long, but I could sense Bella slowing to accommodate the girl's slower pace.

"Amy?" was all she asked.

"Kira. Said. To. Watch. You," she managed to choke out, "Knew. I. Was. Faster."

I couldn't help but be impressed by Kira's determination. She really did despise me.

Bella sighed, "Amy, I'm fine. You can go back." My breath stopped at the thought of being alone with her again, and even more so that she _wanted _to be alone with me, didn't she?

There was no further argument however, as after breaking through a line of trees, we had reached the house. The only thing I was really able to grasp about it was that it was blue and Victorian, with a very nice white door, which I was unceremoniously shepherded through into a spacious living room. It was fairly bare of any furniture, just a few dark brown leather armchairs and a sofa, and painted a cream color.

I turned to find that the rest of the coven had finally caught up to us.

Kira was shooting daggers at me, while the brunette seemed wary of me. The blond girl, Amy, seemed to be more focused on a conversation with Bella, in which I was frequently gestured towards. Annaliese's feelings were quite impossible to discern. Her face was pulled into a mask of apathy, though I could tell that in no way was I trusted by her.

And Bella, my sweet Bella, I turned to see was… gone. As was, I soon realized, everyone, but Annaliese. I had a feeling this was entirely the purpose of coming here.

"Have a seat Edward," she offered politely.

I took one.

"Now, I think it's probably best that you understand that it is my special…_gift_ to know when you're lying, call it a mother's instinct. Now let me ask you this question, are you, as my daughter has told me, a mind reader?"

"Yes," I answered somewhat reluctantly.

"Very well, I only ask that you do not read the minds of my family unless otherwise specified. Not only is it my suspicion that Bella will most likely block you out, you may find things you were better off leaving alone," she warned.

I nodded in reply, but I could promise nothing. I had never completely explained to Bella that sometimes if the thoughts were strong enough, I couldn't help but hear them. Rosalie is a prime example of this principle.

"Can you at least tell me what I'm to expect? I don't think I was even properly introduced."

Annaliese laughed at this. "Very well then, the youngest, Kira, was eleven when I changed her in 1945, the next eldest, Amy, was fourteen in 1906, and the next, Melody, was sixteen in 1836. Bella is the eldest of my children at eighteen, but the youngest in overall years. Beyond that, their stories are theirs to tell. I cannot account for what they would or would not like to disclose with you."

"And you?" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me.

"I was changed in 1349 when I was in my late twenties. Other than that, I'll tell you no more about myself. Besides, haven't you been told it's rude to ask a woman her age?"

"May I ask one more question?" I ventured, suddenly serious.

"It depends upon the nature of this question," Annaliese replied suspiciously. She seemed to be able to guess that it was not as lighthearted as my previous ones.

"What happened that…why did you…why is Bella a vampire?" I managed to ask. I needed to know why it had come to this.

For a moment Annaliese looked as if she wasn't going to answer. Then she sighed as she said, "I'll only show you what I know. Bella has told me only a little bit of her past. And what she has told me, isn't exactly… painless for someone who cares about her, neither is the memory I'm about to share with you."

"I want to know." It didn't matter how much my heart broke, or how much pain I felt as what little soul I owned shattered, I needed to know what I had done to her.

And then I was in Annaliese's mind looking through her eyes at a very pale Bella, lying in a hospital bed.

'_She looks so very sick.' Annaliese muses._

_The girl begins to cough suddenly, as if she can't stop. The heart monitor jumps slightly, but doesn't go into a frantic beeping. Her voice is ragged and thin as she calls out a name, Edward._

"_I promised I'd be here. I promised I'd wait," she cries pitifully._

_Annaliese can hear the nurses down the hall starting to come towards the room. They stop as soon as one of them realizes that it's this girl's room. They seem to be under the impression that it'll pass. They only enter the room if the heart monitor starts to beep._

_Annaliese notices at this moment that the girl's scent is strange, as if many different people's blood rushes through her. Her suspicions are confirmed when she notices the bag of blood kept waiting on the IV stand. Annaliese isn't thirsty though, she's just drunk her fill from the blood bank down the hall. That's why she's at the hospital, even though she isn't supposed to linger. Her ears can hear the girl's breath catching, she can't breath. Her heart's slowing as well. Still, the girl fights. Her eyes fly open, and they're filmed over, frantically she searches the room for something, or someone. Annaliese can see and smell the tear that falls from the girl's eye. And then the tiny body is shuddering again, and still she fights it, but Annaliese can tell that this is the end. No matter how much the girl fights, she can't win this battle._

_Annaliese's heart breaks, and in that moment, she makes the decision that will save the girl's life. The girl screams only once, and then goes still, barely whimpering. She says something that Annaliese barely catches, it's the name again._

_And then the girl is in her arms, and they're escaping._

As the memory ended, I could feel my heart shattering into a million pieces.

**A/N: **Sort of a cliffhanger, but not really. Next chapter is where you'll find out more about what's happened over the past thirty years as well as a little more about Bella's new coven (and yes, the years in which they were changed all have specific meaning, my only hints, Kira was/isJapanese, Amy lived in San Francisco, and Melody lived in Texas, and believe me, from that you should be able to tell why I chose those years).

I know that Annaliese doesn't really sound as if she's from the time period she is, but she's been around for a while, I think she's gotten good at picking up on different ways of speaking.

Still looking for some sort of an editor…

Oh and no new chapter until I get 25 reviews ) And yes, I do have some of the next chapter written, I'm just not sure exactly where I'm going to stop.


	6. Snapshots

**A/N: **Tons of thanks to all of my reviewers, you keep me writing.

And yes, I did notice that in an earlier chapter I said Melody "seemed to be about twenty" even though her real age is sixteen. I said she _looked _twenty, _not_ that she _was _twenty. She just looks a bit old for her age.

Also, I'm incredibly sorry for the slow update, I've been going through the various auditions for my school play (Annie Get Your Gun -eye roll-), I'll know the results sometime next week…

**Disclaimer:** Edward and Bella don't belong to me, but Kira, Annaliese, Melody, and Amy are mine. Got it?

I could feel myself crumbling, crumbling to the disgusting dirt I was. It was my fault that this had happened; I should have just changed her. Then she wouldn't have had to go through that. She had fought to be there for me all because of that goddamn promise. I had made her promise and she had struggled against whatever illness she had, maybe making herself sicker. I wasn't dirt, I was worse than dirt for putting her through that. The one person on this earth that I truly loved and I had hurt her yet again. Could I do nothing right?

For a moment, Annaliese's look softened as she let her hand rest on my shoulder and I was reminded of Esme. Annaliese had the same comforting sense about her, even if it didn't seem to be her normal temperament.

"She doesn't blame you, you know. That was all she said during the change. 'It's not your fault, Edward.' I…I think she thought you'd come back when I changed her," she said in somewhat pained voice. I realized that she felt bad for disappointing her daughter. And from the waves of love and protectiveness I could feel emanating from her, I knew it was true. She loved Bella in every sense of the word.

And at the same time, I could feel a sense of relief washing over me. She didn't blame me. After everything that had happened, she didn't blame me. I almost couldn't believe it.

It explained so much. Why she was so thin, why she looked fragile, even though she was most likely stronger than any human could ever hope to be. She had been sick at the time of the change, and though the change had healed her, it had accentuated her current features to a state of beauty, her weakness, her fragileness, her sickness. But it had made it something beautiful.

What I wouldn't give for the change to have been by done by me, for the change to have accentuated her natural beauty from before instead of this strange sickness. But even like this, she was even more beautiful than I could believe. When I had first seen her then, I had felt as if I was looking at an angel. _My_ angel. If she would let me, that is. And even if she did, what about her family? I doubted they would let me take her away from them.

"What do you plan to do now?" Annaliese asked.

"I don't know."

It was the truth, I didn't know what I was going to do. All I knew was that I wanted to be with her, but I could tell Annaliese wasn't finished with her questions, and her answers.

"I understand you're a 'vegetarian' as Bella termed it. Is it true? Prior to meeting Bella we'd heard of the lifestyle, but we only dallied in it. Most of the time we would take blood from blood banks, we haven't forgotten our humanity enough to enjoy killing a human. We only keep with it now because of our love for Bella. It's hard, but Bella said your family has a member who's never weakened his resolve."

"Yes. That's Carlisle," I answered.

She sighed.

"I want to find something, anything really, that says that you're no good for Bella. That you're a monster that shouldn't be with her. But so far, all I can tell is that you love her more than I could possibly comprehend. I want to find something that justifies the hate I've felt for you for these past decades. Now I just feel guilty," she admitted.

"You love her," was all I could say.

"She's my daughter," was all she could say.

For a while, we were silent. Linked together by the love that we both felt for the same chocolate haired girl.

After a while she said quietly, "You should go see her. She only agreed to this questioning session because she thought it would help me trust you. She wanted to talk to you. I think she wanted to tell you the truth."

"The truth?"

"She's told me little bits of her past, but never anything as a whole. All I know about her is what I was able to read about her from the records of her that I destroyed."

I nodded, understanding.

I rose from my chair, felt my feet carry me up the stairs. I was numb. Anxiety, fear, pain were all gone as I walked up those stairs. They weren't gone, I realized. They were all coming together to create one emotion that would hit me the minute I saw her. They would all flood out, and she would understand. No matter what, she was my Bella. Could all those years change that? Could my incompetence at not finding her before make her angry with me? But she had wanted to be with me in the woods. As always, I was unsure of myself when it came to Bella. She was the one person who could do that to me. No matter how strong I was, no matter how fast I was, she could always bring me to my knees with her very being.

I was shocked out of my reverie by a very serious and very angry voice. Kira.

She stood before me, hands on her hips, anger and hatred written in every line of her body. In another place and time, it might have been almost comical to see an eleven year old standing up to me. But not when I looked at her eyes. They were pitch black with the detestation she felt for me.

"Hear this right now. If you hurt my sister you'll pay for it. Got it? You may have made her smile tonight, but if you take that away from her, make her like the way she was before, I swear I'll kill you. If you take away her smile, I'll kill you," she said almost sobbing at this point.

I was bombarded with Kira's memory.

_Bella is sitting in a window seat, looking out at the sea and the beach before her. It's gray and raining._

_Kira isn't sure what to think of her new sister, she's only been with them a few weeks. Annaliese has told her to leave her alone. But she's curious. _

_Bella turns to look at her now. Her eyes are the crimson of a newly changed vampire. Unlike most though, they continue to change shades ever so slightly. It makes Kira dizzy and scared._

_But isn't the color shifting that scares her. It's the way Bella's eyes are so devoid of anything, even recognition. It's as if she's not even alive, just a corpse staring at her. She's seen enough corpses to know what they look like. They always make her feel guilty. Normally because she's made them that way._

_She runs away from her._

I'm assaulted by another memory, this one from the other girl.

_Bella is sitting on a couch reading a book to Kira and Amy, Pride and Prejudice. They've both heard her read it hundreds of times in the past ten years, but they never tire of it. Bella read it with so much life, the only time she seems to have much emotion. They both love her so much. _

_Suddenly Kira reaches out and hugs Bella tightly._

_For a moment, Bella looks startled and then slowly, almost as if she'd forgotten how to, she smiles._

_Amy is surprised. It's not a big smile, it's only a little half smile. Amy realizes that this is the first time she's seen Bella smile. _

_She joins Kira in hugging her._

Amy comes to stand behind Kira. She's not mad, merely making sure Kira is okay.

"I love my sister. You made her smile tonight. Really smile. Something one of us has never been able to do. Please, just don't make her lose it," she pleaded.

"He also hurt her!" Kira screamed.

The air became tense. I didn't want to fight anyone in Bella's coven.

Then the brunette came out and all was quiet.

"Mi calidad usted dos. ¡Pare esto ahora! ¿Cómo Bella se sentiría si usted lo lastimó?" she yelled.

I was too startled to register what she'd just said, even though I was technically able to fluently speak Spanish.

Kira looked down, shamed.

And then they were all gone with the sound of closing doors.

Because at the end of the hallway stood Bella.

**A/N:** I was debating on whether I should have Edward find out more from Annaliese or to have a discussion with her sisters. And then I realized that Edward really wouldn't care about who these people were. He would only care that they loved Bella. So I sort of made this chapter's purpose to be showing how they all feel about her. And of course I added a little Edward angst. I promise you're going to find out more about the coven eventually. If you really want, you can at least find out what events caused them to be changed if you work at it. I've given you enough hints.

And I no longer need to ask for an editor! Starting next chapter, The-Good-Die-Alone will be editing for me.

Next chapter will be up after a little more than 30 reviews.


	7. Partial Truths

**A/N: **I'm so sorry I haven't updated in so long. I've had a lot of stuff going on in my life, and then I had midterms and it all got out of hand. But I'm back now AND it's winter break. Expect a few one shots as well as at least 2 or 3 new chapters for this. I have to be in a car for four hours this Saturday, so you can definitely expect something.

Also, what Melody said last chapter was "My goodness you two! Stop this now! How would Bella feel if you hurt him?" I forgot to put it in.

This chapter hasn't been edited, I felt so bad for keeping it from you all for so long. The next one (which I have half of written!) will be edited by The-Good-Die-Alone.

**Disclaimer: **While I may not own Twilight or New Moon, I'm working on somehow buying Stephenie Meyer's free will. Maybe Santa will get it for me.

I couldn't move, I couldn't even breath, even though I hadn't needed to for over a century. I couldn't let even the slightest movement destroy this moment. I hadn't been able to see her for almost three decades and now all I wanted to do was to stare at her and rememorize every detail, every changed feature of her. She was beautiful, perfection in its purest form.

She had changed her clothing while I was talking to her family. She still wore the jeans I'd seen her in earlier, but replacing the t-shirt of earlier was a blue silken slightly off the shoulders blouse. I could feel my breathing start up again, I knew this outfit, Alice had bought it for her on one of their many excursions to the mall. Alice had told me later that Bella had picked it out herself because it was blue, my favorite color on her.

And then the frozen feeling was gone as she sighed heavily. Her voice was strained as she called out to her sisters, "Enough you three. Come out. I heard it all, no use in hiding."

Melody was the first to come out, her face unreadable. Amy came next, looking concerned and wary. An audible click was heard from the door next to me. Kira had decided that she would prefer the company of her room. I could hear the scuffing of furniture on the hardwood floors. She was building a barricade. While it wouldn't keep Bella out, it would subdue her.

"She's angry, Bella, don't push her. She didn't use her gift, be glad for that at least. Let her be for now, she'll come out when she feels like it. She's had a hard night, we all have," Melody said, her voice lilting with a hint of a Spanish accent.

"She's right Bella, just let her be. She's scared, she doesn't like when she's not in control, and she almost lost it back there. She's not going to do anything now, she's just trying to calm down," Amy added, her eyes glazing over for a moment as she spoke, "Melody's right, this hasn't exactly been easy for any of us, especially Kira."

Bella sighed again, her voice barely audible as she whispered, "I'm sorry you guys, I'm so sorry…I…"

But before she could finish, Amy had got her into a rib crushing hug while Melody cuffed her on the head.

"Calidad! You think that this is your fault Bella?! Why do you think we'd ever think this is your fault?! You can't always blame yourself for things! Usted está loco pensar tal cosa!" Melody said angrily.

Bella laughed weakly; even weakly it was still one of my favorite sounds in the world. How I'd missed it.

Amy released Bella as she turned to look at me. Turning to Bella she whispered something I couldn't hear, and then grabbed Melody's arm dragging her into what I could only guess was Amy's room.

Bella turned to me, now it was only us.

Her eyes were scared, but in a nervous way. Why?

"Come on," she whispered. Before she could turn to lead me to wherever it was that we were going I snatched her arm, gently pulling her to look at me. Her eyes were wide, but I could hear her breath catch in an oh so familiar way.

"Bella, please, listen to me when I say this. I _never_ meant to leave you for so long, please forgive me."

I was begging, and I knew it. But I would do it for as long as she liked if she was willing to take me back.

Her eyes grew soft for a moment and she smiled as with a shake of her head she looked at the ground. I almost didn't catch her whisper; I was too preoccupied with her smile.

As it was, I only caught the end of it. "…hasn't changed at all." She smiled more as she looked up at me, but forced her eyes to be angry and firm as she stared into my eyes. Was there someone else? Had she learned to live without me?

"Edward. I've told you this time and time again. _You can't blame yourself for what happens to me._ You can't do this to yourself."

"You… you don't blame me?" After thirty years of me blaming myself for everything that had happened, she, who had the most right to blame me, didn't?

Hesitantly, she let her hand rise from her side to come to my cheek, gently brushing it from my cheekbone to my ear, then letting her hand fall back to her side. Ice cold fire burned where she'd touched me. It was the first time that she had voluntarily touched me all night and in my opinion, it'd been over too soon.

Her eyes had begun to take on a sudden and new intensity, turning into molten gold, "I _never _blamed you for what happened. And I never will," she promised.

Biting her lip gently, she turned away and began to stride down the hall with me close behind. I couldn't understand it, one moment she seemed as if she was my old Bella, the Bella who hated to leave my side, the next she seemed to be afraid to even be near me. What on earth had happened to her?

In a few seconds we reached a new door, this one white like the others. Bella opened it and revealed pale tan walls and more hardwood floors. To my left was a row of bookshelves, clogged with books. In the corner lay a plain red rug, on top of which sat a comfortable looking leather armchair and a stack of books as tall as the armrests. A small table sat next to the chair with a nondescript lamp turned on. A book lay open on the table, as if she had been reading and simply left it there. A desk was directly to my right; a laptop sat there, closed and turned off.

The anomaly of this room lay right in front of me, a daybed with a red sheet set and plenty of throw pillows. While many vampires had something to sit on or lie down on, most chose not to have a bed of any sorts unless they had a mate. And Bella didn't have a mate, did she?

She sat down daintily on the bed. Seeing that I remained standing, she invitingly patted the space beside her with a smile. I took my rightful place at her side.

"What do you want to know?" she asked quietly.

"What's easiest for you?"

"Depends," she replied her head sagging between her hands.

"Fine. Tell me about your family."

Her face was still in her hands, but I could still see the corners of he mouth turn up.

"What do you want to know?"

"Well, how were they changed?"

"Annaliese was changed in 1349 when the plague hit France. Her husband was long gone by then. Her children got sick before her, but she caught the disease soon after. The vampire that changed her did it out of loneliness, and Annaliese said she'd loved him in a way. She would have stayed with him probably, if he hadn't lied. He told her that he'd saved her children as well, and that they'd run off happy to be free of her. It took her a while before she realized that the little lights she saw around him meant something. After that, she was alone for a while. I don't think she wanted to be with anyone after what happened. She was afraid that other vampires were the same. Then she found Melody in 1836. She was a junior nurse at the Alamo. Her parents were American, but she learned Spanish quickly as her first language. Annaliese changed her to save her after the place was attacked. The men would tell her stories about their lives before they died, and she'd…I guess the best way to say it is… absorbed their memories in a way. That's why now she can erase them, she keeps them though, but she can't take too many or it's like an overload. When that happens she has to sort through them and decide which ones to keep or she just erases them all. It's easier if she has a focus on what memories she's taking, like a place, or a thing, or a person…"

"That's why no one remembered you," I whispered.

She nodded sadly. "She had to, they were sort of spur of the moment with the decision to change me," she said with a harsh laugh, "I'm assuming Annaliese let you see? I left the wall down…"

"Yes, what do you mean by wall?" I asked curiously, "It wouldn't happen to have something to do with your disappearing and then getting dizzy in the forest, would it?"

"Yes, it would. Remember when I told you I was good at repressing things I didn't want to remember? Basically, it's like I hide things I don't want other people to see by putting walls up. That's why you can't hear my thoughts, there's a wall there, right? That was just my default setting when I was human. Now I can control it, to a point. When you tried to read my sisters' thoughts before you couldn't, could you? I can do it to other people if I'm touching them or if there's a bond, if I'm already attuned to them, we don't need to be touching. What I did to you was put walls around your sight, hearing, touch, and smell pertaining to me. But I lost focus and switched it all on me by accident; I do that sometimes if I'm not careful…"

"How?"

"I tripped," she admitted with a halfhearted laugh, "I wasn't paying attention and I tripped and lost focus, it all switched to me by default. It was like…like I didn't exist. It was scary, but it's happened before. Eventually, it passes. I'm just scared…that…I might accidentally…"

"What?" I asked softly.

She turned her head from me as she said tortured, "Three years after I was changed, I made Kira go blind for two weeks. I've made Amy lose feeling in her arms, Melody once lost her hearing, Annaliese has lost so many things that I can't even keep track. I'm afraid I'll do something like that to _you._ I…I couldn't live with myself if I did that to you."

I couldn't help myself. Before I knew what I was doing, I had reached out to her and pulled her into my arms. When she had been human, she couldn't have even hoped to get out of one of my embraces. But she was no longer human. Before I could grab her she had slipped out of my grasp stood near the door, a shocked look on her face.

"Did you not hear what I just said? I could hurt you! I'm dangerous! I'm no good for anyone, least of all you! I won't put you through what my family's had to go through. I won't give myself a chance to hurt you! I won't!" she yelled, utter panic in her voice.

"Please, just leave. I…I don't even deserve you. I never did and I never will. Please, just go find someone who does deserve you," she whispered, her voice breaking as she said it.

"Why on earth would you say that? What about all the times I hurt you? And what about the times I _almost_ hurt you? You never left me, and I won't leave you Bella. I _can't_ leave you now that I know where you are. Is that why you hid from me? Because you thought you didn't deserve me? Did you think I wouldn't be looking for you everywhere, that I wouldn't want to see you more than anything?" I said angrily. How could she _ever_ think that she didn't deserve me, when it was always the other way around?

Her golden eyes came up to bore into mine. In them I could see waves of immeasurable pain, and more than anything I wanted to be able to take it all away from her. I couldn't stand seeing her like this. I loved her with all of my unbeating heart, with all of my nonexistent soul.

"I don't deserve you because I forgot about you, Charlie, Mom, _everyone_. I put walls up around my human memories subconsciously because they were painful. If…if I couldn't deal with a little pain to remember you…I felt…I felt…so horrible Edward. I started remembering things only five years ago, but I was so ashamed. I…" she sobbed.

This time, she didn't struggle away from my embrace. She stiffened for a moment, but relaxed after I made it clear she wouldn't get out of my arms ever again. It felt so right to have her in my arms. She seemed so tiny, so fragile. But she still _fit._ She still fit in my arms perfectly.

"You weren't happy," I whispered into her hair, "I saw some of Kira and Amy's memories."

"No," she breathed, "I wasn't. I didn't talk very much. I shut myself away for a few years. Eventually, I came out of my shell, but I was never…happy. I knew something was missing, but not what."

"Bella, _I love you._ That's _never _going to change," I told her. She needed to know that, more than anything, I wanted her to know that.

"I know," she whispered into my chest.

We stayed like that for another few minutes just relishing in the feeling of togetherness. Rememorizing faces and the feeling of being in one another's arms.

"Edward?" she asked quietly.

"Yes?" I breathed.

"I love you," was all she said. And at the same time, it was everything I needed to hear.

I didn't want to break the silence, but there was something that had been tugging at me ever since I'd seen her in the meadow.

"Whenever Alice looks for you, she kept getting blank visions. She'd see places, but no people. Was that your doing?" I asked.

"Hmm…"

Suddenly, she was out of my arms and over by her desk, the laptop switched on and opened to a writing program. She changed the font size and typed out an address and the words 'You'll find us here.' For a moment she closed her eyes and took a shaking breath. After a moment she opened her eyes, but she was trembling slightly.

"Come here," she commanded. I couldn't refuse; all I wanted was to hold her again.

"What are you doing?" I asked, confused.

"I'm going to let Alice See me. I've made a decision, and hopefully, she'll see us."

"What's your decision?" I asked.

'_Oh, just this.'_

Except I didn't hear it in my ears, I heard it in my mind.

_--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

I'd never told Edward that I still looked for her future. It'd become a tradition for me. Every time I Saw him going to the meadow, I'd Look for her. The visions were always blank, but I wanted to hope that I may just See her someday. At the same time, I was afraid of what I might See.

I was in the living room of our new house. It was much the same as the one in Forks, except that there was no wall of glass. It was a darker house, perhaps showing the darker outlook the entire family had taken. Jasper was with me, reading some book. Emmett and Rosalie were upstairs, most likely doing something that I'd rather not see. Esme and Carlisle were somewhere. Somehow, things didn't seem to matter as much as they used to. I was broken, we as a family were broken. In one fell swoop, we'd lost Edward _and_ Bella.

Before I could even start to search for her, I was hit with a vision, my eyes instantly glazing over.

_Edward and Bella are in a room. A laptop's screen glows behind them, something written on it in a huge font._

_Suddenly, she goes on her tiptoes to kiss him, golden eyes glowing with determination and happiness. His eyes mirror her own in the level of happiness, before they close. There's no look of caution on his face like there used to be when he kissed her. That's because there's no temptation to drink her blood, she doesn't have any. _

I was too shocked to try to hold onto the vision, but I'd gotten all I need from it.

Bella is a vampire. Edward's with her. And I knew where to find them.

I screamed.

**A/N: **It's weird to write in Alice's POV. I need to practice it. I know that I'd promised to tell you more about the whole coven, but it just turned out this way. Next chapter is going to be mostly Bella's memories and her explaining what happened when Edward left. You'll also find that two main characters are dead. Yes, dead. As in not alive. And they're main characters, at least by my standards.

Melody Translations:

Calidad! – My goodness!

Usted está loco pensar tal cosa! – You are crazy to think such things!


	8. Memorium

**A/N: **Really sorry about the slow update. My stupid, idiotic, old, and retarded laptop went kablooey for a while…

Okay, here's the thing. It's come to my attention that my reviews per chapter are slowly dwindling. I know you all are reading it, so REVIEW! It makes me all warm and fuzzy to see your reviews and it helps me to write things faster, if you catch my drift. I won't set a goal for the next chapter to be posted, but I'm watching.

Also, thank you very much to The-Good-Die-Alone for betaing and editing this chapter!

Anyhow…

Currently, I'm listening to the New Moon playlist and My Chemical Romance's new CD 'The Black Parade' over and over again. It fits my mood.

Also, I thought I'd answer a couple of questions that someone asked me via anonymous review (so I couldn't reply, sorry!) because I think it might be confusing to a lot of other people.

_When you said she was sick looking, did that mean she isn't as pretty as regular vampires?_

Nope, it means that she literally looks sick. Most humans may not notice it because it's been heightened to a sense of beauty. Vampires will notice it more, because they're used to the exaggerated features of their own kind. The short of it though, is that she looks tiny and fragile, sort of like a recovering cancer patient. You'll understand better after reading this chapter probably.

As far as learning more about Bella and her coven's powers, I'll only tell you what's already been made obvious, and what should be fairly obvious (in the case of Amy and Kira).

Bella- Can create walls around parts of her and other people's minds. It's not yet been made clear exactly what else she can do with it, and you'll have to wait for future chapters to find out.

Annaliese- Can detect when someone's lying due to a flicker of lights that appear around them. She calls it 'a mother's instinct.'

Melody- Can absorb others' memories and make them her own or completely flush them out if there's an 'overload.' Think of it like a computer, you have to delete things if there's too much data.

Amy- I think it's been made fairly obvious that Amy can see what's going on in the present. However, this will be further elaborated on later on as it's not that simple.

Kira- All I'll say is that what she can do is VERY dangerous to both vampire and human and it has a lot to do with her past. And I've given you all quite a few clues about her past.

Now on with the story! (By the way, long author's note, huh?)

**Disclaimer: **It turns out I was bad this year so Santa gave me coal (and a speaker chair) instead of Stephenie Meyer. Ergo, the fact that I have to put a disclaimer that I don't own Twilight or New Moon.

To say I was surprised when her lips met mine would be an understatement. My eyes opened wide at first, shocked and confused at her sudden closeness, old habits telling me I should get away before I hurt her, but my body refused to listen to my brain. My eyes closed and let myself get truly close to Bella for what seemed like the very first time.

'_I missed him so much.'_

I stiffened, shocked and surprised at the sudden realization that my former paranoia had not caused me to believe that I'd heard her thoughts. I'd subconsciously decided it was my own mind playing games on me. I was still waiting to open my eyes and find myself still in the meadow. Bella stopped, confusion written on every line of her body, though her eyes still held a look of longing. It was strange, after all these years, to hear her thoughts. They were so different from anyone else's I'd ever heard. Her voice was so clear, so pure. And I still couldn't understand the thoughts that ran through her head.

"Yes?" she asked, one eyebrow rising quizzically. Her voice seemed a bit strained, and I wondered if it had anything to do with her and me having our little bit of fun.

"Well, has it occurred to you that I might be surprised to hear your thoughts for the first time?" I asked, trying to keep my voice even, I was a bit embarrassed to find that my voice had sounded hoarse, a perfect replica of her own.

'_Really? That upset him?'_

"Not upset per se. More like… pleasantly surprised," I answered her thoughts. It sounded unsure. It was nice to hear her thoughts, but at the same time it was slightly alarming. I wasn't sure what I would hear, or if I wanted to hear anything.

"Hmph," she huffed.

"You know, it takes a lot of effort to take these walls down. And I'm still not sure what sort of repercussions might ensue after I put them back," she said, her voice playful at first, but slowly becoming serious, as if she was only just realizing the gravity of the situation.

"Are you scared of what might happen?" I asked, reaching out to her. She returned to the circle of my arms, leaning slightly against me as she let her body relax. The tremors had stopped for the most part, but she still felt tense.

"Yes, but not for me. I'm used to what happens to me. I'm just worried I'll lose control when I put them back in place and someone will have something happen to them. As it is, I don't know how long I can keep them down," she whispered. I could feel her mouth moving into a halfhearted smile against my chest. I pulled her closer, enjoying the fact that I no longer had to restrain myself. I didn't have to fear that I might crush her when I only meant to embrace her. It felt so _right _to hold her in my arms, to feel her body against mine. I just wanted to hold her tightly and never let go.

And at the same time, I could feel how tiny she had become, she felt so fragile, a porcelain china doll.

I was so occupied with my own thoughts of what could've happened to make her lose that much weight that I wasn't quite ready for the image that bombarded me. It was of me, going from me losing my sight to not being able to move. It hurt my head to watch the spinning images. No matter how much I tried to block it all out, I couldn't.

"Could you please stop that?" I asked, my voice strained. The images instantly stopped.

"Sorry," she whispered, her voice repentant.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" I asked, it could not be allowed to be prolonged any longer. I wanted to know what happened, no, I _needed _to know what had happened.

"I don't know if I can tell you. I've barely told Annaliese anything. It's not…pleasant to talk about. And the memories I do have are shoddy at best, but maybe…" she said, voice trailing off as she considered what to do.

"What do you say to watching the memories in my head? I can keep the walls down long enough for that."

I thought about it for a moment. It had been hard enough to watch that one memory in Annaliese's head, what would Bella's do to me?

'_Idiot!_' my brain screamed at me. How much pain had Bella had to go through? How much had she suffered? And here I was worrying about the pain it would cause _me._ I hated my selfishness.

"Fine," I whispered and I watched as I left her room that fateful night.

'_I missed you then, not like before, but it was still hard to be away from you.' _Bella commentated.

_I watch from Bella's eyes as she tries to go back to sleep. The minutes tick by as she desperately tries to calm herself._

_Sighing, she reaches out towards something, the CD player. Hitting play, I hear my lullaby for her playing softly. _

_For a moment it seems that she might be able to slip back into sleep, but it doesn't work._

_Gently, and carefully, she slips out of bed, careful not to trip. She comes to her closet, and shifting through the different clothes there, she comes to the back. A plain white shirt hangs there, and I recognize it as mine. Taking it off the hanger, she pulls it close, inhaling…_

"You stole one of my shirts?" I asked, trying to instill the proper annoyance, but somehow, I found it more flattering than bothersome. It wasn't as if I needed every shirt I owned. And with Alice shopping, you tended to have excess to an extreme extent. It made me feel glad to know that Bella had had something of mine. Truth be told, I had taken some of her clothing once when I had gone on an extended hunting trip. It had been comforting to be able to smell her while I was away, to help with my delusions of her being with me when my misery of not being with her were too much.

She ignored my comment and continued the train of memories.

_Bella is sitting at home, looking out at the sun with a sad smile. There are college applications littering the kitchen table._

_Suddenly, my head, her head, is on fire. She groans slightly, gripping her head to try to stop the pain._

_But it won't stop, and suddenly everything goes black._

_Bella wakes up to find herself in her bed, a worried Charlie looking at her._

"_What happened?" he asks, his voice panicked._

"_I don't know," she whispers._

'_That wasn't the end of it,' _Bella said, the voice of her mind calm, but sad.

_Bella is in her room, she feels good today, better than she has in a few days. She hasn't gone to a doctor yet, trying to pretend that there's nothing wrong. She knows that sooner or later she'll have to go._

'_But Edward will be back soon,' she considers._

_She starts to cough, her dry throat burning. She tries to stop, but can't. She holds a hand to her mouth as she hacks, her lungs protesting. Something hot is covering her hand, and she smells blood. Letting her hand drop, she realizes she's coughing up blood before she faints._

'_Charlie made me go to the hospital after that. I don't really remember much of it_,' she lied, but most likely against her will, a flurry of new memories made their way into my mind.

_Bella sits in a hospital bed, Charlie on a plastic chair beside her. There's a bag of blood hanging on an IV stand near her, she looks at it with a hint of annoyance._

_She hates having it there, making her weak stomach worse, but if she coughs up as much blood as before…_

_Bella is sitting in the same room, a doctor asking her questions. She answers them in a practiced tone, she's used to the questions and has memorized the answers._

_He smiles and says, "I think we might be able to let you out for a while, but you have to come back if any of the symptoms come back.'_

_A wave of joy washes over her…_

_Bella is in her room, Jake sits on the rocking chair, in **my **spot. Bella is tired today and Charlie asked Jake to come watch her._

_His eyes hold mountains of worry for her, but she always tells him she feels fine. Until finally she starts to cough. And cough. And cough…_

_She wakes up in the ER, Jake's face a picture of panic._

_Suddenly, the smell of blood overwhelms her, but it's not hers. Someone's being rolled in with a lot of shouting. She recognizes the blood covered face, it's Charlie. Then she faints…_

_She sits in a wheelchair in the Forks graveyard. The tombstone in front of her reads plainly, 'Charles 'Charlie' Swan, Loving Father, Devoted Policeman, May the Love He Gave Always Be Remembered.'_

_The only thing she can think is, 'Victoria is back. And Edward is gone. He can't be dead. He can't be.'…_

_She's at La Push, she's been staying there with Sam and Emily since Charlie died and she was released from the hospital. Everyone thinks she's there because she's too 'emotionally traumatized' to stay in her own house. The truth is that she's too scared to be there with Victoria back. Sam and Emily take good care of her and the rest of the pack visits practically every day, always disregarding the fact that she has almost gotten to the point where she never leaves her tiny room in the back of the house. She hasn't told them that the doctor told her it might be the last time she'll ever be able to leave the hospital…_

_She's walking around the house outside, happy that she's having a good day. She revels in the feel of the cool air on her skin, the sun hidden behind grey clouds. Jake's promised to take her to the beach if she was feeling well enough. Right now he's patrolling, but Sam says he's on his way here…_

_And then suddenly Sam's flying out of the house, grabbing her roughly, pulling her inside. Yelling at her and Emily to stay put._

"_Something's happened to Jake," is all she says, it's not a question._

Emily only nods… 

_Bella's back in the hospital now, too weak to go to Jake's funeral. Tears run down her face freely as she mourns for him as she has her own funeral for him. She buries him deep in her heart, where he'll never be lost. She knows now that I must be dead. She refuses to bury me just yet, the last remnants of her hope that I'm still alive. And the only thing that makes her feel any better is that she'll be joining me soon no matter what confused notions I have that I can't enter heaven…_

_Bella is…_

The walls came back, and Bella slumped against me, whimpering and trembling, desperately trying to get out of my arms.

Finally, she stopped her struggles and focused on fighting the tremors back. For a moment she goes rigid and then after what seems like forever, she relaxed. I focused entirely on what she did, fighting back the pain in my heart as piece by piece, it breaks, the bandages I had used to put it back together unraveling slowly.

And then the anger came. _Victoria _had put Bella through pain. Had killed people close to her, even though I hadn't been fond of Jacob (all right, I hated him), Bella had been. And Victoria had taken them from her. This could never be forgiven. But it was my fault. I had lost her, and had been dim-witted enough to leave her with no protection, forcing my entire family to come with me in a silly attempt to get it done quickly. But she'd escaped after two months, while we scrambled around looking for her.

"I promise you, Bella. I'll find her, and I'll kill her. I promise," I said, my voice burning with fury.

"You won't have to. She's gone," she whispered, ducking her head into my chest.

"Who killed her?" I asked, confused. The anger was slowly being drained away, the pain surfacing again.

"Me."

**A/N: **I know I said I was only killing off two main characters (but Victoria's not that big of a character…), but I scrapped the idea of having Charlie die later to make Bella's memories come back.

Now I have something more traumatic planned

And yes, next chapter I swear that _all _of the coven's powers will be explained as well as how Bella killed Victoria. I just didn't want to overload the senses of you all with too much in one chapter.


	9. Love

**A/N: **Sorry for the slow update, I've been sick (as in puking out your guts sick) and couldn't write.

I just wanted to inform you all that Waiting has about…5-7 chapters left before it ends depending upon what I end up including. While I have plenty of ideas for sequels, I can't say if there will be one. While I love my coven to bits, I don't know if I have the creativity to create an entire sequel. However, there is still the possibility of a sequel depending largely upon reviews and my own schedule at that time.

Also, someone asked me about Annaliese's power via PM a while back. I don't have the PM anymore, but the question was basically along the lines of why she saw the lights. The answer is that it's chemicals flooding her brain alerting her of signs that she doesn't consciously acknowledge that means a person is lying. Like the blinking too many times thing. While she doesn't actual know this is a signal, her subconscious mind does. This in turn, basically causes her to have a hallucination that causes the lights. Technically, it's possible.

Also, I just want to let everyone know that chapters normally take me a week to write and edit and have edited. The actual amount of time depends largely on the length of the chapter and what's going on in my life that week. I announce this because someone -cough- Kaitlyn -cough- is _very _persistent about making sure the chapters come out when I say they will. From now on, if anything is causing chapters to come out late, I'll try to alert everyone, 'kay?

Now, on with the chapter (especially since this author's note is getting very, very long).

**Disclaimer: **Despite my furious letters of complaint to Santa, it seems that I will not be getting Stephenie Meyer and/or the rights to Twilight for Christmas any time soon.

"Wh…what?" I spluttered. How could her family put her in that position? How could they let her do that? How could they not protect her? I could feel the anger returning, and for a moment I was glad it was back, glad that it could cancel out all the pain I was feeling.

"I killed her," she whispered again into my chest.

I hadn't wanted to leave. But it was necessary. I had to draw Victoria away from her, I had to destroy her, I had to protect Bella, but I had been stupid, cocky in my assumption that Victoria would be easy prey. I hadn't thought my actions through; I thought that if my entire family helped, it would be quicker. But once it began, we couldn't get out. If one of us left, Victoria would notice, would know where Bella was. But it hadn't mattered, she'd still gotten away. It seemed I wasn't the only terrible tracker in my family. No one could know where she really was, sometimes she'd be somewhere while she was supposedly somewhere else.

But at the same time, I just wanted Bella to be human for a little while, without any supernatural interference. Because she only had a few weeks left of her humanity. Victoria's reappearance had only made the actions happen faster, and given me a reason to give her the time to be human, to enjoy things she couldn't with me.

I wanted her to spend time with friends, with her father, with the sun, with warmth. I wanted her to sleep, eat, cry, to be human. I was always fretting over whether she could ever really forgive me for taking away those things, so I had planned to give her a chance to experience all of them one last time before she was changed.

But it had all gone so wrong. I had hurt her more than I could have ever imagined.

And at the same time, I nearly ripped my own heart out. Was I really so masochistic? I knew that not only would I hurt Bella, but myself as well. I had tried to cope with the loss, but it was the same as thirty years ago, I became a lump. An unresponsive, cold, misery laden lump. I had taken so much time from us. I had taken away her humanity prematurely and upon far different pretences than she had desired. And worst of all, the selfish creature in me realized, I had taken her face from me.

And right now, she was trying to hide it.

Carefully, I leaned away from her to reveal her face. I quickly regretted it. All I could see was those golden orbs filled with agony.

"Isabella," I breathed. Her name. Her full name. The name of my angel, my savior. She had made my un-beating heart beat again; she had given me some sort of reason for existence. Just a few hours ago, I had thought she was dead or gone from me forever. And now, she was in my arms, and in pain. I wanted to make it all go away, to make her smile again. But I just didn't know how. Time hadn't erased my love for her one bit, and it didn't seem like it had affected her either. But she had _changed_. In more ways than the one she'd always wanted. And now, I didn't know where I belonged in her life, what purpose I served. I was confused, I was scared, and I was helplessly in love.

Gently, I sat back down on her bed, pulling her down with me. As if nothing had changed, she curled up in my arms. She pressed her face back into my chest, refusing to look up at me.

I wondered if she would cry now if she could. It was one of the many things I missed from my humanity sometimes; there was the empty feeling of no emotion after it. I had realized long ago that this was why people in mourning were always so quiet, as if they were empty shells. It was because they'd cried out all their sadness, all their emotions.

But me? When I wanted to cry for Bella, I couldn't. I was stuck with all of the emotions in me; a swirling chaos of feelings all compacted into one person. So I had had to just let them eat away at me, slowly tiring them out until I was a lump of ice cold stone flesh. But I couldn't bring myself to call back the emotions I had once felt, too scared at what they could do to me.

So they had been dammed, all waiting to flood through when given the slightest chance. And now they'd gotten their chance. Every emotion flowed through; it had always seemed that crying was my saving grace. I felt clean and fresh after a good cry. I felt as if I could pour out my sadness in those tears, and leave it all behind. But me, changing from anger to love, hate to happiness, misery to ecstasy. Bella had always resurrected the human in me, brought forth emotions I thought I had lost. And now, that fact was even more evident. My heart was simultaneously being rebuilt and destroyed. Every second I spent holding her, a wound was bandaged. But every time I saw these things she showed to me, every time I saw her in pain, a new wound opened.

But at the same time, I was relieved to hear these things. To know what had really happened.

I wanted to hear everything, but I wanted to hear nothing. It was impossible for me to get what I wanted.

"I killed her, Edward, she attacked me and before I even knew what I was doing, she was on the ground. But she was just…gone. Her eyes…they were blank, everything. I think…I think I put a wall around everything… everything that was _her_. I ran away from my family after that for a while. I was so _scared. _But it wasn't just that. Victoria was…was my…" she sobbed, unable to continue.

"You don't have to tell me," I told her, I could wait for when she was ready. And at the same time, I didn't know if my heart could take it. I shushed her, pulling her closer as I stroked her back. Slowly, she began to relax and calm slightly, her breathing evening out even though she no longer needed it. I listened to it, the calming rhythm of ins and outs.

_Inhale… exhale._

_Inhale… exhale._

_Inhale… inhale._

_Exhale… inhale._

_Inhale… inhale._

_Inhale… inhale…_

"Are you…_smelling _me?" I asked, confused.

"Yes," she stated plainly, her voice still shaky.

"_Why?" _I asked confused.

"I always liked your scent, it's soothing," she admitted, "It smells even better now that my nose has been enhanced. It's different though, stronger. That was why I came at the meadow. I was hunting with my family, and I smelled it. I was curious. It was familiar, but new. I knew it was another of our kind, but I didn't know it was you. I don't know what I would have done if I did know it was you…" she trailed off.

"Why did you run in the first place?" I asked, curious. I couldn't understand it.

"I'm not quite sure," she confessed, "I was surprised, that much I'm sure of. But it was more that I was afraid that I'd hurt you. It's harder to concentrate when I'm emotional. I wasn't sure I could control myself. That's probably why nothing really happened during the first year or so after my change. I was, for lack of a better word, dead. But I'm guessing you saw a little of it from Kira or Amy," she said with a sigh.

"Yes," I replied.

"Speaking of which, you never finished telling me about your family," I said pointedly, trying to draw the conversation into a lighter mood.

It worked.

"I left off with Melody, didn't I? Well, next came Amy, her full name's Amelia, but she hates it," she said, laughing, "She was changed in 1906, after the big earthquake in San Francisco. Melody found her; she was trying her best to help out in the emergency shelters. She wanted to help in the hospitals, but she just doesn't have that much control. The shelters were the next best thing. It's hard for Melody to get close to people with her gift… sometimes she has…_accidents_, but for the most part, she doesn't really find human blood appetizing, maybe it's because she's so used to it from being a nurse.

"Before I came, they all sort of switched between human and animal blood with different ways of going about it. Melody and Amy tend to have less trouble with just drinking from animals. It's a challenge for Annaliese, but she's good at resisting temptation. She's just been around for so long, that it's become a habit. And Kira, well Kira's just Kira," she said as though remembering something.

"Well, back to Amy," she continued, intentionally shying away from the topic of Kira, "Melody was helping out and she came across Amy. She was burned a bit, her parents dead from the same fire. That's why her hair's so short, most of it was singed off. Melody cared for her for a week or so, and Amy would talk to her, tell her about her family. She had a little brother named Robbie. She absolutely adored him. She tried to save him from the fire, somehow she knew that it was happening while she was in line for rations. But he was too tiny, his lungs gave out and he died the day after from smoke inhalation. But she survived and she was burned pretty badly.

"Melody told me that she would act happy and laugh so that no one knew she hated herself. She thought it was somehow her fault that he'd died. She was only 14, but she hated, no, _loathed _herself. She was just a child, Edward, and she hated herself.

"But then one day, Amy started getting sicker for some reason. Melody thinks she just was tired of trying, I've never asked her myself. But Melody was just too attached, so she came in for a night shift and bit her. Amy didn't understand everything that was going on at first, she couldn't understand why she was saved and not her brother. She thought that somehow, he could've been saved too. She really loved him. That's probably why she became so attached to everyone after she got used to the idea. She's always afraid she'll lose us."

"She loves you a lot, I saw it in one of her memories of you. You were reading to her. She still remembers your first smile, she used to keep a book of all your 'firsts,'" I told her, remembering the thoughts that I had been privy to.

"Really? I always feel like a little baby to her even though, technically, I'm older than her."

"Her mind was sort of like Alice's. Does she have a…talent?"

She laughed, "She's got a strange gift, if you could call it that at all. She has premonitions of what's happening to people she knows. She only knows if they're scared or in danger, sometimes even if they don't know it themselves. She has to be incredibly attuned to them for it to work, and even then she says that it's almost like seeing a photo for a second. A picture of what they're doing just sort of flashes past her. She can tell that they're not in danger if she just gets a sort of blankness. The closer she is the clearer things are. If she's any further than a mile, it's only an instinctive feeling and maybe a blurry picture. Five miles and she won't have any clue what's going on unless she's really attuned to them, and if it's that far, the most she might feel is some sort of pain if the person's in pain or she might just feel strange. The only thing that she's always aware of is if any of us are in a position to leave her. It's probably because she was always afraid of that as a human. She knew once when Kira was going to leave because she was upset about something," she explained. It didn't escape my notice that she didn't say what had made Kira upset, somehow I had a feeling it had something to do with a corpse.

"And Kira?" I asked. I couldn't understand her. She loved Bella, but hated me. She was protective of her, willing to hurt me to keep her safe, but had been scared of her when she first met her. I could see that whatever gift she'd been endowed with was dangerous. But other than that, she was an enigma, a puzzle I couldn't solve.

She sighed. I waited.

And waited.

And waited…

"I don't know if Kira would like you knowing anything about her," she finally declared.

"Why?"

"Because I think Kira would probably prefer you being somewhere far away, preferably on another planet, but she'd probably settle for a continent, or at least another country."

I laughed, but stopped quickly when I saw the sudden flash of anger in her eyes.

"Hold on just a moment," she said curtly, rising from the bed to open her door to reveal Kira. She too had changed her clothing, black jeans were paired with a light pink shirt, her sneakers of earlier were gone, now her feet were bare.

"Alright, Kira, enough. I'm just fine, alright?" she said angrily.

"I came to say sorry," she said quietly, obviously miserable about evoking Bella's anger or just the fact that I was there.

Bella's face softened for a moment before she continued her interrogation, "Did Melody and Amy put you up to this? I don't want you to say sorry if you don't mean it. I'd rather you get to the point where that's how you feel."

"No, I…just wanted to apologize. I promise I won't do anything to him," an image of me writhing in pain on the floor flashed through her mind, at strange sort of flame engulfing me.

Bella sighed again as she leaned down to hug her. Kira's mouth curled up into what was unmistakably a smile as she hugged her back. This smile vanished as I rose from the bed, taking my time to approach her, still wary of the image of me I'd seen in her head. Carefully, I let my arm encircle Bella's shoulders, a casual touch, but a show of our relationship. Kira stiffened for a moment, before she saw that Bella had leaned into my arm.

"Hello, I don't think I properly introduced myself earlier, my name is Edward Anthony Mason Cullen," I said, giving my full name as an attempt at politeness.

She looked at Bella before answering, questions seemingly being answered in Bella's face.

"Daikirai Minikui Keibi M**è**reDeToute," she said formally. I recognized the adding of a more French last name, realizing that she had taken Annaliese's name, and I wondered if Bella had done the same. The Japanese meant nothing to me, besides that was what it was.

I nodded in answer, the obvious tension between us only intensified by my inability to form some sort of question or reply.

And then the other two appeared, Amy looking happy and excited while Melody kept her distance, dark gold eyes taking in everything.

'_She's smiling. And Kira seems alright. If things go bad, I think Amelia and I can take him. I don't want Kira involved. If she loses control now, it will take a long time before she can get it back.'_

I was puzzled by Melody's observations, unlike Kira, her mind was full of plans, no images that could give me clues.

"Hello you two," Bella said cheerfully, trying to ease the pressure filling the room, "Edward was just introducing himself to Kira."

"Hello," I repeated seeking to duplicate my earlier cordiality again, "My name is Edward Anthony Mason Cullen."

Amy spoke first, eyes twinkling merrily, "Amelia Adams M**è**reDeToute, but you can just call me Amy."

Melody followed directly after, "Melody Sophia Eldern M**è**reDeToute."

Both shared the French sounding name, confirming my suspicions that it was Annaliese's surname.

"Do you both want to tell me why you're here?" Bella asked.

"Well, now that Kir **(A/N: This is Amy's nickname for Kira)** isn't mad enough to kill him and we know that Mel won't have to erase his memory or anything and you don't seem so uptight, we were wondering if he wanted to have a tour of the house. Oh and by the way, something's coming for you Bella, I can't tell what it is exactly though. It's got that blank feeling," Amy said, merry and blunt in her statements. The last one didn't seem to have any effect on the tone besides a level of curiosity.

"We'll be having more guests, I guess I should have asked first, but I…"

Before she could finish, Amy interrupted gleefully, "More guests? Yay! Come on Mel, Kir, we'll have to get the house ready for them!"

She reached out to grab Kira and Melody's arms, but Kira pulled away.

Kira seemed not to share Amy's enthusiasm, "Who are they?" she asked, voice even but without any hint of happiness about the topic.

"Edward's family," Bella said. I wondered if I imagined the added implication that it wasn't hers.

Kira nodded. _'She's going to leave us. Just like my hahaoya left. Now my youbo will leave too. And I'll be alone again.'_

Amy soon picked up on the tenor of Kira's mood, her mind flashed through plans too quick for me to grasp anything.

"Bella? Annaliese wants to speak to you, she's been wanting to for the past hour or so. Maybe you should go now? Kir, you should go with Bella. Mel and I can handle him," she said, jerking her thumb in my direction.

Bella's eyebrow rose slightly, Amy nodded. Bella turned her head to Melody now, who only stared at her, conveying something I couldn't understand. And thus, the transfer of unspoken words was complete.

Bella took Kira's hand, murmuring something inaudible even to my ears to her, and pulled her though the door.

And then I was alone, at least for now, with Bella's sisters.

"So, what would you like to know?" Amy asked pleasantly.

"Hmm?" I asked confused.

"Bella never suspects us of eavesdropping. That's why we're so good at it. Besides, Amy's known that Bella was in 'danger' ever since you two came up here. Technically, she was in danger because she left the walls down so we've been able to see some things. Everything else, we heard. She's got to realize that Amy's room is directly below hers," Melody explained, a mischievous glint in her eyes. I was reminded that while Melody looked older, she was still barely sixteen.

"So here's the deal. We tell you things, but you need to tell us things. Annaliese will most likely end up talking to Bella for a bit, and Kira will need some reassurance. We're being polite and offering you the first question," Amy said in a rush.

I made a mental note that Amy was a bit of a mastermind.

She reminded me slightly of Alice, but Amy's frenzied bouts of excitement and happiness didn't seem natural. It was almost like a comedic parody where someone was so hyper that it was funny.

"What sort of things would you like to know?" I asked, suspicious. I didn't know if I was up for 20 Questions.

"Mostly things about Bella's life as a human, we don't know much about her. I had to purge most of the memories I stole," Melody explained, "She hasn't told us much, even now that she knows more about her past. We just are curious. You can warn us if we go into unwelcome territory. You just have to extend the same courtesy to us."

"Alright, how did that…" I paused for a moment, letting my anger subside, forcing the words I'd like to say away, "How did Victoria find Bella?" I snarled.

Amy growled, and Melody ground her teeth at the name.

"That bitch? The one who tore mi hermana apart? The one who we thought was her friend?" Melody said angrily.

**A/N: **Yay! Semi-cliffhanger.

Here's the translations:

Hahaoya – mother

Youbo – adoptive mother

Mi hermana – my sister

The nameM**è**reDeToute roughly means as far as babelfish tells me (as I don't study French) 'mother of all.' Annaliese made this last name for herself. She sometimes goes by the surname Merdete just so it's simpler.

The Japanese in Kira's name _does _mean something. However, it reveals a bit too much about her past for me to reveal. However, if someone were to correctly tell me by review or PM what her name means, I might have an alternate angst and memory starting catalyst idea as well as a teaser bit about Victoria's 'power' in this story to email them. And yes, I'm shamelessly trying to make people review more.


	10. Fairy Tales

**A/N: **'ello loves, did you miss me?

I apologize profusely for how long it took for this update. It seemed whenever I tried to write, something either came up or I was sick. I just got over a big bout of strep throat and missed a ton of stuff at school. So, next chapter will be delayed in getting updated, but hopefully not as much as this one was. Spring break's coming up though, so expect a lot more to get done.

In regard to a PM I received, which I of course deleted (x.x), my characters _are not _lesbians. While I have nothing against lesbians, I just think it's pretty shallow to immediately believe that because my coven is entirely female, they're lesbians. It'll be brought more into the light this chapter and next, but the reason Annaliese only changes girls is because she's trying to replace her human children, two daughters. So, just thought I'd clear that up, just in case anyone thought that that was the case.

Also, I realized that last chapter was the first time any of my characters, or anyone in the story for that matter, swore (Naughty, naughty Melody **:o**). I'm not sure whether I should be celebrating that landmark achievement or if I should feel some strange sadness. As it is, the story's getting to the darker part, especially when Kira's past is brought to light.

Also, to my great surprise, I recently found out what the 'Stats' button does. Imagine my surprise when I saw that I had over 5000 views! Currently, it's an even 5750. I seriously almost had a heart attack!!! I also have found that 23 people have favorited this story and 41 have put it on their alert list. I just want to profusely thank everyone for this, it may seem very small in comparison to other stories, but for me, it's an amazing feeling to see that so many people are reading my work.

Now, on that matter, because my reviews per chapter are slowly dropping, I'm reinstating a review amount before I post the new chapter. This week's is going to be a perfectly reachable 75.

Now, on with the chapter, and please enjoy Waiting!

**Disclaimer: **While sick, I was under delusion that I was the owner of Twilight and New Moon. And then I woke up and realized that I'd just fallen asleep while reading.

"Victoria was Bella's friend?"

Surely, I had misheard her. It was completely and utterly unfeasible that someone who had tainted perfectly good air by just breathing, who had been the archetype of evil, who had killed people Bella loved, could _ever_ be her friend. She had had a hand in Bella's near death for crying out loud! Bella was good, pure, light itself. Victoria was darkness incarnate. There was no universe where the two could ever be friends.

"She tricked her," Amy spat out, still trying to contain the growls erupting from her body. Melody had a bit more composure over the matter, but not by much, if she had been human, the furious grinding of her teeth would have worn them down to nothing by now.

As for me, I was too shocked to say anything, to do anything. It seemed as if the moment I thought that the rollercoaster ride of emotions had ended, a new loop appeared, complete with sickening twists and turns, and then the release, where you're too stunned to do anything but exit your car.

"Let me explain," Melody offered, slight pauses between her words, as she tried to get the sound past her still grinding teeth.

"No, let me," Amy interrupted, "That no good…"

Amy wasn't allowed to finish her description of Victoria, as Melody's hand soon covered her mouth. Amy looked indignant for a moment, before finally realizing defeat. Melody kept her hand over the blonde's mouth for a few moments before finally relieving the pressure.

"When Bella was changed, she lost her memory, to an extent," Melody continued, "She remembered her name, how to read, write, tie her shoes. She seemed to remember the events that had happened in her life, but not any details. She knew of her past, but not enough to know who she was. It is…complicated, for lack of a better word to describe it."

"For the first two or three years after her change, she just didn't do anything. She'd stay in whatever room was hers at the time. Every now and then, she'd disappear for a while, to hunt, we think. The only thing we couldn't understand was why she'd even bother coming back. It seemed like she hated us, like she wanted nothing to do with us. Whenever one of us tried to come in, we'd get silence. She didn't speak to us, didn't even look at us. The only time any of us heard her speak was when she was being changed and the day afterwards. She told Annaliese everything she knew about herself, and then she just stopped talking."

"She always took the room with the most books," Amy took over, her mind revealing images of earlier homes the family had shared, "She never asked for it, we just knew she would take it. She'd spend all her time reading. She was trying to find something to help her remember."

"It was her third Christmas with us that she finally started speaking to us," Melody reminisced. Her words slipped past me as the images in her mind were far more detailed, one of the advantages of a perfect memory.

_Bella walks slowly down the staircase of a small home. It's snowing in the window next to her, the flakes drifting lazily down. She's dressed in a plain white button-up shirt and jeans, and Melody idly speculates about the scent. It obviously has plenty of Bella's own scent, but there's a hint of another's. It was stronger when Melody first took it from Bella's home, and it has definitely faded, but it's still there, sweet and strong, like wildflowers. It's the scent of one of her kind, but Bella was human when she had the shirt, so it must be a mistake. _

_Kira's eyes are nervous, she isn't sure what to expect of Bella yet. And Kira doesn't like things she doesn't understand, so she's been avoiding Bella like the plague. It's been hard for her in this home, it's very small._

_Amelia looks to her, worried about Kira, but Melody can see how happy Amelia is at this surprise. She has been worried about Bella, worried that they did the wrong thing in changing her, but more than that, Amelia has been worried that Bella hates her. Melody isn't so concerned about being hated. She's worried that they will never get to know the real Bella. _

_In the back of her mind, Melody is trying to stow away the thoughts of anger towards Annaliese for bringing yet another human into this fate. She doesn't harbor any antagonism towards Annaliese for her own change, but this girl does not belong here. If Annaliese wishes to regain the children she lost, then she shouldn't have to place this suffering on others. Melody knows that somewhere, a man named Edward is waiting for her, and will never find her. Even if she was meant to die in that hospital, she should have at least been given the benefit of peace._

_The only memory Melody kept was one of the last ones she collected. A young boy, he had fallen and bruised his knee and Bella had run from the high school parking lot to help him. Brown eyes had been filled with worry as she checked the knee for anything more than a little pooling of blood under the skin. She had carried the little boy to his mother, just a few blocks away at the park, frantically searching for him._

_Melody has never told Amelia that the only reason she does not voice her opinions on Bella's changing is because, in the deepest part of her heart, she wants Bella to stay and be the mother that Annaliese is not._

_Melody loves Annaliese as a mother, but she is not the type who would tuck you into bed with a kiss and the whispers of a lullaby, like her own madre. Bella is. And that is what Kira needs. The poor girl has had too much suffering for one so young, and Melody secretly hopes that Bella could heal it. But it a selfish want and she mustn't let others know of it._

_Bella doesn't speak as she sits down next to Annaliese on the brown leather couch, the new leather squeaking slightly. Annaliese's smile reaches from ear to ear, gleaming white teeth exposed, as she looks at her new 'daughter.' Bella only watches as Amelia happily hands out presents to everyone. This is the first time Bella's opened anything they've given her. She always leaves it outside her room, untouched. Eventually, they take it away._

'_I wonder why she doesn't like presents, even after she started talking again, she hated getting presents. Maybe I should ask **him** about it when it's our turn,' _Melody considered, her thoughts straying from the memory. Her thoughts soon began to go back to the scene, picking up where they left off.

_Bella's finished opening her gift, a book, as always. It's what she does next that surprises them all._

"_Thank you," she whispers, her voice carries a wave of conviction, but oddly, there are no changes in volume, no inflections on certain sounds. It's a flat sentence, lacking any sort of real evidence of gratitude, but it's painfully obvious how much it really contains._

'_I never understood why she came down then,' _Melody pondered. It's brought to my attention that there is a lull in the conversation and I'm expected to fill it.

"But how does this have anything to do with someone like Victoria becoming Bella's friend?"

"Because, if Bella knew anything abut her past, she would have been able to tell us to kill Victoria the moment she appeared at out front door," Amy spat out, her eyes turning jet black.

"She just showed up one day, out of the blue. She said she was looking for Isabella. At first I didn't know whom she was inquiring about, I only knew Bella as 'Bella.' Then she said that she'd been looking for her for a long time, she said she knew Edward, well, you. I knew she meant Bella then. When Bella woke up, she didn't know who you were anymore. She didn't really know anyone. She barely knew herself. We tried to find you, but it was useless, we'd inadvertently destroyed anything that could lead us to you. We had our suspicions, but Victoria confirmed them," Melody whispered, her voice quieting as she continued telling her tale.

"What suspicions?" I asked, my voice wavering unintentionally.

"That you were like us. Bella knew what had happened to her when she awoke. The first thing she said was 'I'm a vampire, aren't I?' When we asked her how she knew that, she said she didn't know. It was strange, when I was first changed, it took a while for me to accept the truth, it cost people their lives," Melody said, her mind haunted with the images of people doused in their own blood. The most poignant was of a mother clutching her blood drained child as Melody went in to drain _her_. Melody could see her own red eyes, driven mad with thirst, reflected in the plain blue of the mother's.

'_He's making her remember things she'd rather not,' _Amy noticed, concern etched in every line of her body, _'Time to intervene and time to finish this story before we tell him too much for one turn.' _

"Victoria tricked Bella, made her think she was her friend. At first, we trusted Victoria, Bella laughed, smiled more. We thought she was good for her. She told us about you, how you'd abandoned her. How you'd lied to her, how she'd loved you, but you'd left her. We hated you, but Bella still couldn't remember you completely. She remembered a time when you'd left, so she took Victoria's words for truth. We'll have to apologize for our earlier treatment of you…those stories were all we knew for a long time. Even when Bella finally remembered everything, and told us the truth, we couldn't forgive you. Even now, I'm not sure I can. Kira probably never will, but I think Annaliese already has," Amy explained, her words coming faster and faster as she continued. I tried to interject, to accept her apology, but she halted me. Obviously, she wanted to delay the conclusion of her story no longer.

"Anyways, she started remembering things, things that showed Victoria for who she really was. And then…" Amy stopped, her body shuddering and growls and snarls erupting from her body.

"She lured her away. Tried to kill her. And failed," Melody finished, her hatred evident in every word she spoke.

The moment of stunned release was gone, everything was red, my anger surged out, uncontrolled, and I relished the feel. The monster in me grinned, happy for the rage, happy for the urge to kill.

'_He's dangerous, a monster,' _Amy thought, her fear evident. The monster laughed, he was far more than just dangerous. He was death to anyone who stood in his way.

"You're not a monster Edward," Bella's voice shouted through my head, reminding me of who I was. The monster growled, reminding me of who I could be. He beckoned towards me, reminding me of how easy it was to just give in to him. He would take away this struggle and illuminate the easiest path. Bella's voice was fading, but I caught the final words, "I love you."

I loved Bella; I could be an angel for her, not this demon who tried to dominate me. I could control myself. I _would _control myself. My anger was controllable for her. The monster in me would rage no more.

I opened my eyes to Melody standing in front of Amy, her stance protective. Amy let a hand touch her arm as I opened my eyes and Melody relaxed slightly.

"I suppose," I said through gritted teeth, "that it is your turn to ask _me _a question."

"Yes," Melody whispered, her voice cautious, "I suppose it is."

Before they could hold a conference, Amy blurted out, "Why? How could you leave her if you loved her, if she loved you? How could you live with knowing you'd left her all alone? How could you ever let her cry? She's so caring; she never thinks of herself, she doesn't deserve to cry. So why did you take her smile away?"

I'd explained this only once to Bella, maybe the memory for her had faded slightly, something a bit outside her reach. That must be why she had never explained to them what had happened. But, maybe, she didn't want to remember the pain I'd caused her, even after the wall had crumbled to reveal what it had hidden. I wouldn't blame her, the reason I'd explained only once was that _I _didn't want to dwell upon the agony I had felt at that time.

"I left her to protect her. I was stupid. I thought…I thought that maybe if I left her, she could lead a normal life. One without danger. One where she didn't have to look over her shoulder or be scared of things that lurked in the shadows. I thought wrong.

"I assumed she would get over me, and that I would be the one to suffer. I almost killed myself because I thought she'd killed herself. She saved me, just like always. The second time I left was to hunt down Victoria; I was worried about how close she was getting to Forks. When I came back, Bella was gone," I finished, my mind falling back to the day I'd come home to find Bella gone and all of Forks clueless as to her whereabouts.

"That was stupid," Amy said bluntly, making her thoughts clearly known.

"I know," I replied, a hint of a smile on my face. Despite all the pain I felt at the memories, I couldn't keep the amusement I felt at Amy's resemblance to Alice.

And that brought forward my concerns about what would happen when my family _did _arrive. Bella couldn't leave this family, but my family couldn't say goodbye so soon after saying hello. Could they?

In truth, I hadn't seen them in eight years, but could they have changed? I knew that I had changed and that change was possible, that everything, even vampires, is mutable, but eight years was a brief span of time for my kind. But consider the changes I'd undergone when I first met Bella, those all had happened in a little less than a year, barely a sigh for vampires. It is the amount and intensity of events that cause changes, but I _didn't know_ what had happened in that time period. So what could my assumptions be?

While I continued my furious calculation, Amy and Melody began to grow impatient, but I was far too wrapped up in my own little world to pay attention to their stares of frustration.

"Do you have another question se**ñ**or? Or are you simply contemplating your next choice? Because if you do not have a new question, Amelia and I are perfectly content to ask another," Melody stated plainly, the frustration not evident in her voice. I realized she was trying her best to be polite. Amy fussed for a moment at being called 'Amelia,' but soon quieted as she waited for my answer. There were millions of questions I could ask, but it seemed far fairer that I allow them one more. My last answer hadn't been as long or as detailed as theirs, and I thought they'd appreciate the gesture. I had no need for enemies in Bella's family.

"I think it would only be fair for you to have another question, you didn't get much of an answer from your last," I offered, trying to be friendly.

Melody and Amy held a conference for a moment before deciding upon their question.

This time, it was Melody who spoke, "We would like to know how you got to know Bella. How is it that you resisted? She told us you had trouble, something about 'la tua cantante,' singers, what does it all mean? We're only able to go to school because Bella is there to watch and make sure we don't slip. How is it that you can resist so easily?"

"That's more than one," I argued halfheartedly, trying to infuse a sense of humor into it. Melody took it as a real complaint and was about to give a single question, but I silenced her, "I'll allow it though, there's more than just one question's worth of information in the topic."

"Where to begin…" I mused.

I began with our first sighting, in the cafeteria, my surprise at how her mind was blank to me, how I felt strangely compelled to protect her, even though I had no prior knowledge of her. I told them of our fateful encounter in Biology, how I'd fought desperately to restrain my bloodlust. And then how I'd run away, coward that I was.

I told of how I returned, and tried to make friends with her, to see her as more than sustenance. And then that idiot Tyler Crowley's van almost killing her and our eventual argument at the hospital, how I'd been angry for giving myself another reason to kill her. And also, how I'd been unable to get her out of my mind, how in fear, I'd tried to act as if she didn't exist.

I told them of how after hearing her speak my name in her sleep I felt that for my own sake and hers, I had to initiate further contact. How we had begun to speak again, albeit very little. And then in Port Angeles, with those vile m

And then the meadow, James and Laurent and Victoria, the ballet studio, prom, her eighteenth birthday, my leaving, the cliff, the Volturi…

I told them everything and anything I could think of, giving descriptions of people and places they wouldn't know. Before I knew it, I couldn't stop until I was done with my tale and by then, I could see the moon had lowered on the horizon. It was well past midnight and into the early morning.

"It sounds like one of the _cuento de hadas_, the fairy tales mi madre told me. The prince and the princess falling in love and living happily ever after," Melody whispered, whether intentionally or not, I didn't know. Her thoughts showed the vision of a dark haired woman, skin tanned, and deep, dark brown eyes that twinkled as unheard words flowed forth.

"If only it was that simple," I said in response.

"Yes, if only."

"So, do you have another question for us, Edward?" Amy said politely. She'd since gravitated to a more comfortable seat next to Melody on Bella's bed. She looked as if she was being told a bedtime story the way she was curled up with Melody, her eyes still wide from paying careful attention. Melody was sitting simply on the bed, allowing Amy to position herself however she liked. She shared the same look of rapt attention on her face, however, though she tried hard not to show how enraptured she was.

"Yes, actually. I'd like to know more about Kira. I seem to have found myself in possession of information about the two of you and Annaliese, but nothing about Kira. Bella seemed to show a reluctance to tell me anything about her, if anything, can you tell me the reason?" I asked plaintively. Perhaps I was begging a bit, but it unnerved me that she was such an enigma. I didn't like facing the unknown, and any chance to uncover something was helpful. If it came down to it, I knew that Kira would be the one to fight me and my family if we were to take Bella. Amy and Melody would protect their sister and Annaliese would protect her daughter.

"I suppose it's fair that you learn about the entire family," Melody cogitated, her brow furrowing in displeasure at the route of conversation.

'_It's an inevitability that he would ask, but we could still hope he wouldn't,' _Amy sighed mentally.

"Very well, Se**ñ**or Cullen. Our story begins in a town called Hiroshima in Japan, 1934. A young girl was born to the Keibi family," Melody began reluctantly.

"She was damned from the moment she entered the world," Amy picked up.

"Pink and bare, she was given the name Daikirai. Roughly, it means to hate. Because they wanted nothing to do with her, they did not name her in the traditional Japanese way and added another name. She was given the middle name Minikui, ugly, because they believed that one terrible name was not enough for her," Melody said with no anger, just sadness.

"Why?" I asked, confused.

"Because the Keibi family did not want a daughter. They wanted a son. They were told by diviners that their child would be a son. And because of that, they condemned their child to a life without love."

**A/N: **Finally, the mystery that is Kira will be revealed. By the way, Keibi means guard in Japanese, but I'll go further into that next chapter.

I actually don't think there's any Melody translations to do…but I may missing them as this hasn't been edited because I felt terrible about keeping it from you so long.

Also, I realized that I made a mistake in Kira's name. In Japan, the last name is given before the first name, and middle names are very uncommon. Heck, they normally never give middle names. So, my way of fixing this is that her family named her strangely to show she was not welcome in the family. She also never has really taken strongly to Japanese custom, and doesn't like explaining her full name to people, so she just put it in the order Americans are used to.

Yeah, that's my excuse.

On that subject, you really are lazy readers. No one tried to give me a translation for Kira's full name. Oh well, your loss. Eventually, I'll find something else where you can get information early.

So, please review! Otherwise, the next chapter will never come out –evil laugh–


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